Hellfire
by Miribai
Summary: Like fire. Hellfire. This fire in my skin. This burning desire is turning me to sin. Based on The Hunchback of Notre Dame's "Hellfire". Zutara


A/N: Saw this: www. youtube. com/ watch?v7zAj35rQIww and Hellfire was born. Watch the vid first then read and tell me whatcha think. :D

Hellfire

Sleep is an elusive creature. It always had been since the day he was banished. But even now when he was sure he was in the place his destiny meant for him to be, his mind could not be quieted to allow for peaceful sleep.

It wasn't guilt that plagued him, nor the fear (as childish as it may be) that his sister would appear from nowhere and murder everyone he held dear in their sleep.

No, his current nightmare was something much sweeter and much _much_ deadlier.

Passion, unchecked desire threatened to throw the former prince into the throes of insanity. Every night since joining with the Avatar and his group, his blood pulsed with fire and his mind raced with thoughts and musings concerning…a lowly girl from the Water Tribe.

Oh Agni quiet this flame inside me, or give me the strength to quell it myself…

It struck him as tragically funny that the only thing Prince Zuko, the former heir apparent to the strongest throne in the world, feared was women. Two women to be exact.

Azula frightened him for her raw power and her abject cruelty to use it. She had no qualms about killing relation or children (as evidenced by her cunning strike to the Avatar so long ago in Ba Sing Se.) And if she knew Zuko's new attachment to Katara and the others, more than anything in the world, he feared she would kill them all one by one.

Katara was his other fear, but for a completely different reason. At first she had regarded him with reckless contempt. But over time she softened, became used to his new presence and now it seems they have evolved from outright hate to amiable acceptance. Zuko gave a rare smile at the thought.

She intrigued him, this waif like peasant with ocean eyes and nut-brown skin. She was so unlike the women of the Fire Nation. Where they were quiet, unobtrusive, and genteel, she was loud, coarse, and vulgar. But she did it with all the beauty of even the most groomed of the Fire Nation nobility.

He observed her day after day marveling at her while the strings of his heart began to pull and pull until now even a wayward glance in his direction would clench his heart dangerously in his chest.

She made him feel uneasy, out of control. The simplest of gestures would set his body positively _aflame_. Make him weak in the knees and leave him gasping for breath.

How could such a girl affect him so?

The scarred prince kicked the useless covers off him and rose from his pallet. He hoped a walk amongst the calming stone pillars of the Air Temple would soothe him enough to grant him a few hours rest.

Zuko walked the quiet halls of the temple, hoping his hollow footsteps would not awaken his comrades. Especially Toph, he'd hate to have to explain why he was sleepless that night knowing full well she could detect even the tiniest of lies.

Neither Aang nor Sokka would take his affections too well.

The sound of the fountain drew him to the courtyard. Zuko stopped in the hallway just before entering the open-aired courtyard struck deaf and dumb by the sight before him.

Agni deliver me…

There in the silvery light of a moon a little more than halfway full, Katara stood a glowing wave of water spiraling around her. He watched her bend the wave up and up before bringing it crashing down around her soaking her making her giggle unashamedly.

The sound of her laugh stabbed him with a sweet pain. Oh to hear that voice sweetly call his name, to hear her sighs and whimpers as he ravished her with kisses…

No Zuko, you can't think like that. Get a grip…

But he couldn't help it. It was if a haze had descended upon him clouding his thoughts with fantasies of her. She was a witch, she had to be to make him feel like this so soon. Such a desire was not natural…but also not unwelcome.

He continued to watch her secretly his heart beating fiercely making his whole body tingle with heat.

She was free now, under the light of the moon and in the presence of no one else could she bend the way she wanted to. Play even, amidst the water letting it cascade around and envelop her in its cool, comforting embrace. To Zuko it looked more like a dance than a martial art the way she moved her arms and hips with the sway of the water.

He watched her turn in a circle and bend her back extending her arms gracefully above her head. Her eyes were closed and a serene half-smile tugged at her lips.

Beautiful.

_Dear Agni_, he thought to himself, _what is this? _He was not some child. This was not the first time he'd seen a beautiful woman. Hell Mai was a beautiful woman but there was something about this Katara (and it disgusted him inside to know he had unconsciously stopped calling her "peasant") that made his breath hitch and his heart leap in his chest.

Could only mere beauty affect him this way? Could the smoldering eyes (_Can blue eyes even smolder?) _of a mere peasant bender cause him to lose sleep every night? Could chocolate locks in moonlight make him want to reach out a calloused hand and run fingers through it? Could her voice make his hair stand on end? Could her touch…(_Oh Agni save me…her skin!)_ flame a wanton desire throughout his whole body that could only be satisfied when she was crushed into him, his arms holding her so tightly that she'd melt into his skin.

Finding the strength to take a step forward, he did… and tripped over his feet. Katara heard him fall and turned around sharply, her bended water falling around her drenching her hair making it stick to her face.

Zuko almost cried from the sight of it.

"Zuko?" she called out concern waxing over her face. "Are you alright?"

The prince made to stand, doing his damnedest not to look at the girl for fear his eyes would betray all the thoughts of his heart.

"Zuko?" she called out again when he didn't reply.

Oh sweet merciful Agni, if she calls my name like that again I swear I won't be responsible for what I do to her…

"I…I'm alright." He managed to croak out coming to his feet. He stared at the wet but not uncomfortable girl wishing for a cool breeze to blow by…

Katara walked toward him. "What are you doing up so late? I thought you rose with the sun?"

She remembered his words from the North Pole, he smiled in spite of himself. Katara replied with a smile of her own.

Since Zuko's body was already coursing with molten lava at the sight of his waterbender drenching wet…_Wait _his _waterbender?_ He could not tell if he was blushing yet or not.

"Can't sleep, decided to go for a walk." _Good keep the sentences short, the longer you talk the quicker you lose control._

"Oh," she said simply and gestured to the stone lip of the fountain. "Do you want to sit and talk for a while?"

Zuko stared at her gesturing hand wishing to take it and hold her tightly against him. Wishing to bury his hands in her hair, stroke and pull it to elicit moans and sighs from a throat he would kiss until the skin bruised from the attention.

"Um…no thanks, I think I'm going to head back to bed." He said cowardly before turning away.

Katara reached out and touched his shoulder igniting a fiery shiver from head to toe.

"Hey, I know you've had it rough. So I'm always here if you need to talk."

Sweet angel, beautiful Agni-send!!

"Katara I…" Zuko halted.

_Agni strengthen me…_

_Do it, confess! Say all the things you've wanted so say. Do it now. It's your chance!!_

"Thanks Katara, I appreciate it." Zuko resumed before walking away from the dark-skinned girl.

COWARD!

Zuko walked away, retreating from Katara but the fire within him that burned for her would not be denied. He stopped mid-stride and turned to her.

"Your waterbending is beautiful," he said almost reverently. "Much like you…"

And before Katara could reply, he left her.

A cool calmness washed over him like an ice cold wave of fulfillment. He lay down on his pallet, sleep overtaking him falling towards blissful oblivion. He slept, a small smile creeping up on his features. He slept knowing that somewhere within his little waterbender's heart, a fire of her own was sparked.

Now they would both burn.


End file.
